Mumbai: Airport Customs Seizes Smuggled Gold Worth ₹1.39 Crores Across 2 Cases; One Arrested

Mumbai: The Mumbai Airport Customs officials have seized gold valued at Rs 1.39 crores across two cases. The said goods were found concealed inside the body cavity of a passenger and recovered from a contractual staff working at the airport. One person has been arrested by the Customs officials, agency sources said on Tuesday.

According to the Customs sources, in the intervening night of October 28-29, the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officers at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), Mumbai, had successfully uncovered a smuggling operation involving an international transit passenger and an airport staff.

"The officers were discreetly monitoring transit passengers suspected of smuggling gold and handing over the contraband to staff members at the International departure area. During the operation, a contractual airport staff was intercepted after the international transit passenger handed over the gold dust in wax form, with net weight of 1260 grams, provisionally valued at Rs 91.51 lakh was recovered and seized.

"The contraband was cleverly concealed in the socks and tied around the waist in the innerwear of the staff. The said contractual airport staff had been arrested under the Customs Act. We are probing who was the supplier of the gold and who was supposed to receive the said consignment," said a Customs official.

In another case, a passenger who had arrived from Dubai to Mumbai was intercepted and the smuggled gold dust in wax form (four pieces) having net weight of 655 grams provisionally valued at Rs 47.57 lakh were recovered. The said goods were concealed in the body cavity of the passenger.